Phototherapy versus Adapalene 0.1% Gel in Treatment of Acne Vulgaris

Abstract

Background: Phototherapy has been increasingly used for treatment of acne vulgaris. The targets of the action mechanism of each light treatment are generally thought to be P. acnes. Visible light has been proposed to work by decreasing P. acnes bacterial counts by activating endogenous porphyrins. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of phototherapy with Pulsed Light and Heat Energy (LHE) versus topical Adapalene 0.1% in the treatment of mild forms of acne. Method: During the period of 2 years were treated 99 patients with Acne vulgaris, 51 with mild form of Acne vulgaris were treated with Phototherapy and 48 patients with mild form were treated with topical Adapalene 0.1%.The effectiveness was based on the number of inflammatory and non-inflammatory elements in the beginning moment of therapy and in the intervals after two sessions, 4 sessions, 6 sessions, 8 sessions, one month after treatment with Phototherapy and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks treatment with Adapalene 0.1% Gel. Results: One month after the treatment with Phototherapy, the inflammatory and non-inflammatory elements cleaning reached 67.9 ± 6.2% in mild form and 68.4 ± 6.5% in moderate form of Acne vulgaris. Three months after the treatment with local treatment, the inflammatory and non-inflammatory elements cleaning reached 59.4 ± 5.8 in mild form and 71.4 ± 7.2 after treatment with local plus systemic in moderate form of Acne vulgaris. Conclusion: The treatment of Acne vulgaris with phototherapy LHE as mono-therapy is a medical alternative which gives good clinical results in a relatively short period of time (one month) and with minimal side effects.